The technological singularity may not be looming in our immediate future, but artist Benjamin Grosser's 'Interactive Robotic Painting Machine' is undoubtedly pushing it. Machines have already begun their automated takeover by replacing humans in various roles across the globe, but we would hope that our monopoly on creativity would last for at least another couple hundred years. Alas, Grosser may have unknowingly birthed the apocalypse with his Painting Machine.
The machine uses artificial intelligence to make its own decisions through the course of its painting, yet there is an impressive interactive element as well. Much like an artist being influenced by music playing in the studio, the machine comes complete with a microphone and mixer that it uses as an input in its decision-making. In the absence of external noise, the machine listens to its own gears working as inspiration, creating a sort of an internal dialogue. Grosser has since experimented with composers and live musicians to alter the machine's finished product.
It doesn't quite create masterpieces yet, but the results are impressive nonetheless; the machine may be a step forward for artificial creativity, but just as a child may struggle to color inside the lines, Grosser's device will be hard-pressed to paint outside them.
View the video below and follow up on Grosser's ongoing artistic experiments here.